2009 Studio Technology Top 10

2009 Studio Technology Top 10

3 December, 2009 | 8.35AM

• Written by: Francis Preve
• Filed under: Music News: technology

Beatportal asked me to take a little break from production and gigging to put together another annual Studio Technology Top 10 (here’s 2008’s). Hopefully this list comes just in time for your Christmas wishes.

Loads of cool toys and studio tools have been released this year (we covered most of them in Keyboard Magazine), so after a bit of deep thought and some chit-chat with a few producer buddies, here is our countdown to the coolest production tools of 2009.

The list covers both hardware and software goodies, but this year there’s a stronger-than-usual undercurrent of analog goodness.

10. Audiofile Engineering FiRe and Blue Mikey

What looks like a tie is actually a joint award for two products that equal far more than the sum of their parts.

Audiofile Engineering’s FiRe app is by far the most full featured field recorder for the iPhone.

With features like 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution, the ability to upload directly to SoundCloud, and a price tag of $9.99 FiRe belongs on every producer’s iPhone.

But a recorder is only as good as its microphone, and Blue’s gorgeous and innovative Mikey fits that bill to a T. With a street price of around eighty bucks and compatibility with most iPods, as well as all three iPhones, high-quality guerrilla sampling has reached the masses.

9. Metasynth 5

Hey, remember all the buzz back in 1999 when Aphex Twin embedded his leering face in the “mathematical equation” track from his ‘Windowlicker’ EP (read about it here)?

While the world marveled at this bit of wizardry, savvy producers knew that the trick was done in about three mouseclicks using an esoteric program called Metasynth.

Despite the fact that Metasynth remains relatively obscure – and Mac only – it’s still one of the coolest sound design tools available.

Not a synth, nor plug-in, nor DAW, the latest Metasynth 5 is a tool that allows producers to work with complex additive and Fourier synthesis methods via a completely visual interface.

It definitely takes a bit of time to get up to speed with the program, and at a price of $599 it’s not that easy on the wallet, but if you want to make sounds and loops that scream “WTF?”, Metasynth is an e-ticket into another dimension of sound.

8. iZotope Ozone 4

A good mastering job can be the difference between an okay track and a full-on Beatport chart-topper. Unfortunately, many commercial mastering software products are either underpowered, overpriced, or both.

Not so with iZotope’s recently updated Ozone 4.

iZotope’s suite of mastering tools includes multiband dynamics, multiband saturators, multiband stereo enhancement, EQ, reverb, an intelligent limiter to die for, and mid-side processing options throughout.

It’s so good, in fact, that quite a few producers use it on their drum and music busses multiple times within a single mix.

Need more convincing? Here’s Morgan Page’s take: “Ozone 4 is my go-to mastering plug-in. I use this on every single original and remix.”

For a list price of $249, this level of quality is now within the reach of bedroom producers looking to take their homespun tracks to the next level.

7. Logic Pro 9

It goes without saying that Apple’s latest iteration of Logic – Logic Pro 9 – is going to make an appearance in this countdown.

For many, the hottest aspect of the upgrade is the introduction of Flex Time – a set of high-quality warping functions that bring Logic up to par with more established tools.

Richard Dinsdale weighs in on Logic’s new time-stretching features, “I’m really pleased that Logic 9 pro has brought us Flex Time. It now means that I don’t have to spend as much time on the waveform slicing and editing. It’s such an amazing feature for me because I work with a lot of audio and it makes my life a lot easier.”

A slew of other improvements – like updates for MainStage and Soundtrack Pro – make version 9 utterly irresistible to Logic fans. Especially at a price of only $499.

That said, now that the modern features are completely up-to-speed, here’s hoping Apple spends a bit of time updating some of the decade-old softsynths and adding comprehensive parameter-level undo to this extraordinary package. That should get them back into the Top 5.

6. Native Instruments Audio 4 DJ

Hot on the heels of the success of their Audio 8 DJ interface, NI unleashed its little brother, Audio 4 DJ, on the world this spring.

With a pair of stereo RCA ins and outs, preamps suitable for 1200s, front-side headphone jack, and construction that could probably survive a direct nuclear strike, the Audio 4 DJ is an essential piece of kit for both DJs and producers on the go.

If the $249 price tag is a tad out of reach for some users, there’s also a brand new Audio 2 DJ that forgoes the inputs and reduces its size to about a pack of smokes – for a street price of around $99.

Just to be clear, I personally use both when I’m touring and haven’t had a glitch with either, so the reliability factor is in place as well.

5. FXpansion DCAM Synth Squad

Some have said that the name of this product is just awful, but FXpansion’s DCAM Synth Squad is possibly the most convincing analog emulation on the market right now.

Josh Gabriel and I picked up our copies while I was gigging in Europe last summer and he too was blown away.

So much so that when I tapped him for this article, he was effusive in his praise, “Strobe has quickly become my go-to software synth. If there was a hardware version it would probably be my go-to hardware synth, as well. The oscillators and filters sound fantastic and have a real character, which is the sign of a synth with staying power. Job well done.”

For $249, you get Strobe (a Roland SH-101 style synth), Amber (pictured above, a killer recreation of an old 70s string machine), and Cypher, which is basically the freakishly fat lovechild of the Minimoog and Yamaha’s legendary DX7.

Three synths + great price + killer results = must have.

4. Dave Smith Instruments Tetra

Two-time technology chart-topper Dave Smith remains in the Top 5 for a third year simply because he makes honest-to-goodness real analog synths at a price within reach of pretty much anyone who’s serious about their studio.

Tetra takes the voice of last year’s hit, the Mopho, multiplies it by four, then throws in USB control for tighter timing.

Best of all, each of those voices can have its own completely unique sound, making Tetra the equivalent of four Mophos – in a package that’s exactly the same size.

Morgan page added, “I don’t know how they crammed all that analog goodness into such a tiny box, but this is an amazing synth that likes to be pushed hard – so I’m using Tetra a lot.”

And as if that weren’t enough, it’s only $799 and black.

3. Ableton Live Suite 8

What do Deadmau5, Wolfgang Gartner, Josh Gabriel, Sebastien Leger, and Chris Lake have in common?

Well, aside from the ability to hit the Top 10 seemingly at will, they’re all Ableton Live users.

Wolfgang Gartner offers this take, “Ableton Live has changed the way I make music. I like to say, ‘it was built for dance music’. All of the functions and the way everything is so fluid make Live’s approach a quick and creativity-inducing workflow.”

This year’s model does not disappoint, with enhanced groove tools, a super-slick vocoder, physical modeling that your dog can understand, and insanely complex new warp markers.

Make no mistake, Live 8 may well have generated more Beatport chart hits this year than any of its competitors.

So it should come as no surprise that it’s solidly in the Top 5 for three years running.

2. Dark Energy

Ask any vintage synth geek what’s at the top of their wishlist and more often than not, the answer will be a modular synth of some sort.

While there are several contemporary manufacturers of these gigantic workhorses, a little German company called Doepfer takes the prize for quality and brand recognition.

That said, even an entry-level modular system will set you back a few grand – and in today’s economy, that means most of us will probably waiting a few more years before we can scrounge up the ducats for one.

Or does it? If it’s modular you crave, then feast your eyes and ears on Doepfer’s new all-in-one baby modular: Dark Energy.

Consisting of a single oscillator, lowpass filter, two LFOs and an envelope, the Dark Energy may seem quite simple at first glance.

But those LFOs can also operate in the audio frequency range and modulate every useful parameter in the box, and the envelopes can be switched into super-fast mode for extremely percussive sounds.

Wolfgang Gartner and I spent a day in his studio putting this box through its paces and here’s what he had to say.

“I got completely lost in this box for over an hour and generated some of the coolest sounds and patterns I’ve ever heard. A must-have.”

Then there’s the fact that you can control the Dark Energy over USB, then use the Dark Energy’s control voltage and gate outs to control classic monosynths like the Roland SH-101.

For about $600 US, the Doepfer Dark Energy will be an analog dream-come-true for producers of all types.

1. Melodyne Editor

They said it was impossible, because for all intents and purposes, it was. But a year ago, Melodyne announced that they’d cracked the code for extracting time and pitch from polyphonic material.

That is, they announced the ability to change single notes within a performance like guitar chords, vocal harmonies, and such – but the tech wasn’t quite ready for prime time and there was much perfecting yet to be done.

So the world waited. And waited. And waited. Then, in September, Melodyne Editor arrived as a beta – and producers went nuts.

Then, just last month, the final version shipped for the very reasonable price of $349 MSRP.

While it’s still strictly for processing individual instruments, not entire tracks, this sea-changing technology holds the promise of one day allowing producers to take completed, mixed tracks and create entirely new musical compositions from existing productions.

That sound in the distance is the trembling of copyright lawyers around the globe.

Prometheus indeed! Which is why we’re giving Melodyne Editor the #1 slot in this year’s chart.

• (16) Comments
• (9302) Views